There’s no doubt work conditions have changed over the past few years. Finding the right people for your team is tough. Finding the right people, at the right price is even tougher.
If you do manage to get someone good for your company, what’s stopping them from leaving you? Imagine hiring a full-time QS to work across your different projects, trusting they will take care of everything – when they suddenly get a better offer and leave.
Now what? How do you pick up the pieces? Do you even know what they were working on or what needs to be done next?
To make sure you don’t leave money on the table for those live jobs, consider hiring a contractor’s QS company like ourselves at Carroll Estimating.
To avoid any unnecessary headaches on your live projects, here’s what you should ask your external QS to do for you:
- Review all contracts to make sure they know what you’ve signed and to make sure your rights and responsibilities under that contract are covered.
- Visit your sites in person to understand the conditions and scope of the work.
- Meet with project stakeholders to know who makes the decisions and avoid wasting time at a later stage.
- Check for any cost issues to be resolved so you don’t lose more money.
- Find out if payment applications are to be submitted to get the paperwork sorted.
- Ask if any variations are to be agreed on to pick up on negotiations.
- If there are design changes, to figure out the relevant costs and communicate as needed.
- Understand the project timeline and if any delays need to be communicated.
- Look at final accounts to make sure everything is accounted for.
- Review the cash flow of the business. With someone leaving, you want to understand if that means cash flow suffers and how to turn it around.
This is exactly what we did for our client who learned their lesson the hard way.
Real Life Example.
A groundworks contractor of ours was working on five live projects. They were busy, had a lot to juggle and were counting on the success of these projects.
Things were going well until their Senior QS decided to leave. They left at a relatively early stage on one of the jobs, but it quickly became a major problem.
Our client advertised the job vacancy, and even with a competitive salary and benefits, they still found it impossible to fill the job.
That had a serious knock-on effect on the business. Cashflow began to suffer as payment claims weren’t submitted on time, variations were missed, and materials weren’t ordered on time – it was madness.
With so much work going on, the projects couldn’t stop, so they kept moving on, with money going out and, more often than not, being left behind.
Not only were they out of pocket, they were also in over their heads, stressed out, and overworked. What started as a reason for celebration soon turned into a nightmare.
Instead of continuing to waste time trying to hire another employee or lose money by trying to do the work of the QS themselves, they made a very smart decision. They contacted us at Carroll Estimating. What was initially an interim solution soon became a recurring monthly agreement.
Now, they’ll never hire a full-time QS again! They have our team of ten contractor QS’s behind them. So they get 10 for less cost than 1! It was a total no-brainer for them.
Conclusion.
The benefit of an external QS company is that all the work is done to the highest standard, and you don’t need to worry about being left high and dry without an employee.
If you’re ready to bring in more cash and take on more projects, contact us today at Carroll Estimating to manage all your QS work from tender bid to final account.